Using Neurosociology and Evolutionary Sociology to Explain the Origin and Evolution of Religions

• In Event: 513 - Section on Evolution, Biology and Society Paper Session. Rethinking Evolution, Biology and Society

Abstract

Religion emerged as a cognitive capacity and behavioral propensity by virtue of Darwinian natural selection on hominins and then humans to become more social and group oriented. The capacity to be religious is only a modest extension of the Darwinian selection on cognitive, emotional, and interpersonal propensities of all great apes and, hence, early hominins. However, other forms of natural selection need to be added to the explanation of why religion became institutionalized in early human societies, why religious organizations arise and die from competition, and why violence is so often a part of religious revolutions. These additional types of natural selection do not obviate Darwinian on the human brain, but they become a necessary supplement to Darwinian analysis if the early institutionalization and subsequent evolution of religion are to be more fully explained.

Authors

• Alexandra Maryanski, University of California-Riverside

• Jonathan H. Turner, Univ of California, Santa Barbara and Riverside